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Travel Blogs from Les Andelys

This morning we docked in Les Andelys. Les Andelys actually consists of two separate villages, the older Grand Andeley and the riverside newcomer (after 1190) Petit Andelys, that were only administratively united in the last century. The small river, the Gambon, flows through both towns and join the Seine here.

After breakfast we met our guide Angelica for a short hike up to Chateau-Gaillard. We were very lucky as it had been raining quite heavily but ...

... largely unfenced - no animals graze the stubble. I can only assume the corn and hay are for feeding small mobs of the limousin cattle around the farms over winter.

We have little trouble finding a park in the main street of Giverney. It is a good omen. Crowds are down today with only one tourist bus visible. The Monet Museum is closed for a one week changeover in their exhibition... a strange thing to be doing ...

... the most opulent one I have seen from the outside. Apparently though it was heavily bombed in WWII and much of the cleaned stonework is restoration. Inside it is dark and heavy. The windows are dark and sad, in need of cleaning. About 50% have been destroyed and replaced with opaque clear glass including a huge rose window. Such a loss.

JA and I follow a walking tour map and visit the site where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. A large modern cross marks the spot but ...

... tourists. We set out along the coastal road to Honfleur and travel through Gold, Omaha, Juno and Sword beaches where allied forces landed to defeat the German forces advancing on England.

The most impressive aspect is the vast lengths of floating pontons constructed by Royal Engineers in various UK ports, towed across the English Channel and assembled out from the beaches to serve as floating jetties. They were brough into the beaches at low tide so that vast ...

... of the equation. Ouch - just when we were getting totally accustomed to being treated like royalty by the ship's staff - "May I get you anything else, Madame." Sigh. Feeling blessed. "You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the prize you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place." Fondly, Carmen, Edwin and ...